Hello all,
 
After all of the reading, acquiring of equipment, finding of bees,
and so forth, I finally got my start in beekeeping.  Got bees and
three frames of brood one day and installed them (clumbsily).
The queen went in the next day.  From the exterior, things are
looking good.  Field hands are coming to and fro with loads of pollen
and they are taking syrup like it grows on ??trees??.
 
Couple of questions:
 
When I put the queen cage in, the hive got very "excited" by the
sound of the humming.  It had been a little over a day since the bees
had been removed from their original hive and even before I put the
queen in, there were a number of bees on her cage.  Quite the
??welcoming?? committee when I put her in.  Is this normal??
They were VERY aggressive when I opened them up to install
the queen, but have since calmed down VERY considerably.
 
How long should I wait before going in to remove the cage and to
check on what is going on?  So far, there's no sign of a dead queen
(2 days now) in front of the hive.
 
There seem to be a large number of drones - in proportion to the
worker force coming and going.  Normal? - Given that I'm feeding them
heavily.
 
What are the signs of robbers coming and going and what can I do to
thwart them?
 
Any other advice or things to watch for?
 
Thanks for your patience with a brand newbie.  This is absolutely
fascinating.  I've been spending hours watching them.
 
John Alexander
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